Proudly Made in Canada
Miik clothes are made right here in Canada (all within 50 km of our Toronto office, actually), from milling and dying our fabrics to cutting and sewing the finished garments.
Custom milling in Canada has become more difficult and costly over the years. Fewer and fewer textile and apparel manufacturers remain in Canada as brands turn to cheap overseas labour.
But to us, the benefits to keeping Miik close to home far outweigh the obstacles.
Smaller carbon footprint
Reducing the distance our clothing travels during production limits its carbon footprint. We’re not shipping fabric, notions, samples, and garments from country to country for each stage of production. It all happens in the Greater Toronto Area.
Better working conditions
Garment workers in countries like India, Bangladesh, and Cambodia face notoriously dangerous, exploitative conditions to produce cheap, disposable clothing for fast fashion brands. According to Fashion Revolution, garments are the second highest at-risk product category for modern slavery. Canadian production factories are held to much stricter labour laws, and our team is able to go in and see firsthand the factory conditions for our workers.
By manufacturing in Canada, we can ensure a safe, fair, respectful working environment for every person involved in our production. We love our clothes, and we love the people who make them, too.
An eye on quality
Because our suppliers and contractors are all within the Greater Toronto Area, we're able to directly oversee all areas of production. This close proximity allows us to regularly visit:
- the mill to see our fabric being knit
- the dye house to assess colours
- our sample studio to check fit and make alterations
- all our sewing studios to do quality control on final garments
- our warehouse to check on inventory and fulfillment
Our involvement at every stage allows us to ensure the highest quality products possible. Since many companies operate overseas, they aren't able to visit their contractors and do regular quality control checks. This is a huge element of producing locally for us. We love that producing in Ontario means we are able to see our supply chain firsthand, whenever we want.
Supporting local business
We work with two local fabric mills, a dye house, and 6 sewing manufacturers. When you choose Miik, you support the employment of local tradespeople in an industry struggling to survive in Canada. We are working to keep the garment industry alive in Canada. There is so much talent in this country!
What we don’t do in Canada
Did we mention the domestic textile and apparel industry is shrinking? Well, that means that once in awhile, we run into something we can’t do in Canada. We no longer have a local manufacturer that can produce the printed fabric we need, so we work with a supplier in Turkey specifically for our printed fabrics. Read more about it here.